


Into The Unknown

by Nyxierose



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 11:29:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4664892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxierose/pseuds/Nyxierose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since she can remember, Octavia's world has consisted of one small room... and then she is rescued and nothing is the same.</p><p>Or, the fairytale AU that's also *slightly* a canon'verse AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into The Unknown

It's never a good thing when the alarms go off. In her little corner of the world, Octavia curls into a ball on her bed, wondering what happened this time or if she'll ever even find out. Last time, a few months back, she didn't. Last time, the frightening loud noises lasted a solid hour and she was alone for an entire day and then everything started happening normally again without any form of explanation. This time, she reckons, can't possibly be worst.

At least, that's what she tells herself until she hears human noises outside the door. That's a new element. She's spent her entire life in this blinding white room, but one of Them was nice enough to tell her that it's towards the end of an out-of-the-way corridor. Away from everyone, intentionally. They told her _that_ , at least, and the small tradeoff is that she never has to hear the scary things. Except today, today is different.

The door opens, and she wishes she had anything she could use as a weapon - They used to let her have books, she reckons she could figure it out - but she doesn't, They cleaned the room out last week after she did something They didn't like, it's just her in her long pretty blue dress and she's _scared_. Even more so when a figure slips in and it's not one of Them at all. No, if she had to describe this person, it would be the exact opposite of Them. Roughness and intensity and dark colors and _life_ , the books she's read couldn't possibly have prepared her for this, and they cross and lift her into their arms like it's nothing. It _is_ nothing.

At some point in the next few minutes, at some point before the wild run through the complex is completed, Octavia passes out. It's just as well.

\------

Her head hurts. Her head hurts more than she knew was _possible_ , and the rest of her isn't faring much better. It's like that one time They took too much from her, except that this time she's on a thin layer of something soft above solid ground and-

Solid. Ground. Not the sterile concrete of her room, but something warmer and more ancient. Something she was never supposed to experience.

She's not sure where she is, but as her eyes open, she can at least figure out how she got there. The unexpected rescuer is several yards away, standing with their back towards her. A thousand questions race through her mind, questions of who they are and what they want with her and what led them to her hallway in the first place. She wishes she knew something about them, anything that could help her, anything that would indicate whether she ought to thank them or fear them. But she doesn't, and she's _scared_ again, and her breathing starts to get bad and-

"Slower," they say, soft and almost comforting as they move towards her. They kneel down beside her, gently putting a hand on her far shoulder to steady her. "Not going to hurt you."

Octavia can't help rolling her eyes, though the fact that she's even still alive is a few points in this person's favor. "Then why did you take me?" Her throat hurts too, she realizes, but that's probably just her body adjusting to outside air. So They were right - she _can_ survive out here.

The rescuer looks away for a moment. "Backup plan."

She shifts into a sitting position with their help, crosses her legs and looks straight at them and decides she likes what she sees. The lines of them, the faint echoes of scars on their skin, the inherent _solidity_ … she's not sure what she's feeling, but she thinks she likes it.

"Backup plan?" she repeats.

"Figured they wouldn't shoot you. Not one of their own."

"I'm not sure I _am_ one of theirs," she breathes, and this is the moment where she finally feels free.

\------

Since she was very small, Octavia has known she wasn't the only experiment. She was merely different, They said, something they hadn't planned for. As she got a little older, she pieced together why that was, her existence as the result of an illicit liaison. One of Them had gotten a little too attached to one of the donors, and that attachment led to a child with good blood. Her.

Lately there have been whispers about how to make more like her, plans _involving_ her. The last few times They checked her body, there was more focus on some areas than others, more syringes and gloved hands all over her and in her. The most recent time, maybe a month ago, there was strange fluid put in her most sacred place and a horrible tingling sensation along with it. Afterwards, they said the first attempt was begun, whatever _that_ meant. She's not entirely sure what They did to her, but it'll never happen again. She may not be safer out here, but at least she's her own person now

The rescuer - she needs a name for them, she decides - is good to her, too good. They go off for a little while and she's worried they've left her, but then they come back with several small recently-dead animals and she feels slightly better. There wasn't meat in the complex - weren't any animals at all, They said, let alone ones that could be eaten - but she wants this new experience. She wants everything.

She takes a cautious bite when she is offered a portion and it tastes _good_. Unfamiliar, yes, but she thinks she likes it. She could acclimate out here, wherever "out here" even is. She could, if given half a chance, blossom.

Roughly half an hour later, however, she's lying on her side and vomiting. Acclimation is a process, she reminds herself, wincing as the food comes back up. Maybe next try will be better. Maybe-

Her protector kneels behind her and gently pulls her hair back and out of the way. With their free hand, they pull something from a jacket pocket and tie it like a hairband, but they still hover behind her until her body stills again.

"Thank you," she breathes. "I feel terrible… you didn't have to look after me at all and-"

"I want to keep you safe."

" _Why_?" It's a necessary question, one Octavia would like an answer to as soon as possible.

"Not sure yet."

\------

The last few days have been… not one of the better periods of Lincoln's life. He'd always suspected it'd end like this, wrong place and wrong time and all, but he at least hoped it would be a little cleaner. A quick draining or a painless transformation, whichever fate They chose for him. But no, there are too many sadistic bastards involved in that operation and then something went _wrong_. Exactly what, he's not quite sure, but he came to in a concrete room and the dominant instinct in his brain was that he needed to get the fuck out of there and that he had a fighting chance. So he did. And then it got complicated again, and this time it was completely his fault.

Taking a human shield made sense at the time - assholes with guns are significant less likely to _use_ guns against one of their own. But that doesn't quite explain how he ended up down a hallway to nowhere, how he found the girl in blue. No, he knows exactly how it happened. He saw all the monitors outside that door, didn't know what any of them did but knew it wasn't good, knew that whomever was inside that room needed to get out just as much as he did. All the confirmation he needed was in her panicked eyes, and _maybe_ he could've explained himself a little better but there wasn't time. He had to run, and the little bird needed to fly.

She looks so fragile, sleeping next to him in the open air, but he knows better than to fall for it. He's known her for a matter of hours and she's got fire in her, un-accessed as of yet but fire all the same. She could burn the whole world if she wanted to, and all _he_ wants is to watch her try.

 


End file.
